Dealt with more adversity than they’ve faced over the past two seasons in the past week, the Portland Trail Blazers (20-6) head into their toughest stretch of road games to date.
Friday they start a four-game, five-night road trip beginning with the San Antonio Spurs for the second time in five days.
And the Blazers could be more shorthanded than previously thought.
Without starting center Robin Lopez, the Blazers defeated a short-handed Milwaukee Bucks squad Wednesday. But toward the end of the win Nicolas Batum hit the deck hard after a flagrant foul from Milwaukee’s Larry Sanders, who was subsequently handed a one-game suspension by the league.
Batum has been deemed questionable, with contusions on his right wrist and left knee, for Friday’s date with the champs.
The road trip also features another playoff rematch from last season in the Houston Rockets on Monday. A date with arguably the league’s best power forward in New Orleans’ Anthony Davis is Saturday, and a key divisional game against a full-strength Oklahoma City Thunder is Tuesday.
“It’s huge because they’re all really good Western Conference teams,” Damian Lillard said. “We’re all there in that bunch together. So we got to be ready to go out and fight.”
Head coach Terry Stotts started Thomas Robinson in place of Lopez on Wednesday but left the door open to using different starting line-ups in the future.
“We’ll see against San Antonio,” he said. “I assume (Tim) Duncan will probably start and (Tiago) Splitter may or may not start. I can’t say today that we will stay with the same line-up.”
The Spurs will be without some of their stars. They’ve already ruled out Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard from playing Friday. They also just lost in a triple-overtime game against the Memphis Grizzlies in which 38-year old Duncan played 48 minutes.
“We can’t be half way, half stepping into games,” Lillard said. “We have to go out there and compete. We have to go out there and prove it. We have to prove we are a 20-6 team and not just expect to win games.”
The Thunder are playing better than anybody on Portland’s schedule and as of Thursday are just a half game out of the playoff picture.
Before Thursday’s games, the Thunder were riding a seven-game winning streak and beating teams by a league-leading 14.4 points per 100 possessions during that span according to NBA.com.
The Blazers are in prime position right now but are wounded. Coming along sure footing in the Western Conference in 2014-15 can resemble doing so in a box of quicksand.
The success of Portland’s younger players in starting roles has been a welcome alternative to moans about their lack of depth.
“I have confidence in a lot of the players that are on the bench that don’t always get the same opportunity,” Stotts said. “I have tremendous confidence in our starters and when they’re healthy, they’re going to play. I know what Thomas and everybody else on our bench can bring to a game.”
For a short-handed and banged up Blazers team, everyone must carry a bigger burden. The reserves especially, must reward the confidence their coach shows or it could be a long trip.
